Page 70 of The Prince's Sacrifice

“I’ll be back in an hour,” Denil said firmly.

Once the door was closed and locked, Tor pulled Pel into his arms.

“Hey,” he said. “Missed you.”

“You’ve seen me all day.”

“But not very privately.”

“And what would you like to doprivately?” Pel asked.

Tor grinned. “Let me show you.”

Chapter Thirteen

Pel

In the morning, they had a hearty breakfast—including properly-cooked oatmeal and buns packed with eggs, cheese, sausage, and greens. The cook was happy enough to provide them with lunch, too, and they were soon off.

Pel’s muscles were a lot looser, because in addition to everything Pel had expected from Tor last night, he’d massaged Pel’s arms and shoulders, which had felt amazing.

After another long day of rowing, they just made it past Filon and were able to pull up their boat on the west bank this time, camping in Lotar. Pel and Torbothhad their reasons for avoiding Vayrin, not that the capital city of Glomar—andtherefore Princess Terila—were at all close to the Great River. Still, it was the principle of the matter.

Tor spent a lot of time peering to the west, like he could erase all the distance between the Great River and Scala and see through the forested areas. The area was lushly green, seeming brighter, somehow, than Tond—or maybe it was just Pel’s perception that had changed after what had happened up the mountain.

“You want to visit your sister?” Pel said gently.

“So much,” Tor admitted with a heavy sigh. “But Scala’s a good day and a half out of our way. I know I’ve been gone for months, but I don’t feel like I can dawdle now.”

“We can visit her afterwards,” Pel suggested.

Tor beamed at him, leaning in to kiss him. “That would be wonderful. I can’t wait for you two to meet properly.”

Pel had technically met Princess Adexa before, but only in sporadic formal settings. It wasn’t like they’d actually had any meaningful conversations. She’d been with her two young siblings-in-law at the naming ceremony for Crown Princess Cala, which was the last time Pel had seen her. King Stronex and Prince Thurnil had been talking to King Nostex if Pel remembered correctly. Yes, Princess Adexa had been alone with the children, and Pel had politely nodded and steered clear—possibly because she was a princess like Terila, which in retrospect was an incredibly foolish conflation.

Pel had spent the event avoiding royals as often as possible, which was awkward, as they were the invitees. (He’d actually had a whole conversation with Tor that had clearly made no impression on the High Prince whatsoever, which was embarrassing—but Pel was letting that go. They’d both changed since then.)

He’d love to meet Tor’s sister properly now.

Their fifth night was also spent in Lotar, and by then, Pel’s body had finally become accustomed to the rowing, thank goodness. The sixth evening, they’d almost made it into Alossa, and they spent that last night in Lotar before they rowed past the border early the next morning.

Tor’s shoulders relaxed a little, and Pel was pretty sure that despite everything, Tor was glad to be back in his own realm. With all the uncertainty right now, it was no doubt nice to have something familiar.

“Have you ever been to Alossa?” Tor asked.

It was Beluna in their boat again. She’d insisted on rotating throughout the trip, adding with a wink that it wouldn’t do for her and Cavun to spendtoomuch time together. Pel and Tor had done nothingbutspend time together, and he wondered now if that was a good thing or not.

Pel couldn’t imagine moving further away from Tor, to be honest.

Beluna shook her head. “No, never. I’ve not been further than the northern parts of Bessar and Filon. My parents do a lot of trading, of course, but they took turns doing most of the traveling alone. Mother said it would eat all the profits if we all came along and kept wanting them to buy us things.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You’ve a large family?” Tor asked.

Beluna told them all about her nine siblings, and they all reminisced about silly childhood moments.

They camped out in Alossa that night, and then went on their way again, and by the evening of their eighth day of travel, as the sun was setting, they reached Nexa. The city sprawled on both sides of the river, so much bigger than Baless in Tond. At the end of the war, a number of citizens from the other realms had wanted to settle in Alossa instead. High Queen Ralexa had won the war, after all, or at least convinced the others to end it andseek peace, and people believed in Alossa’s safety or prosperity or future. It was part of why Alossa had wound up so large when they’d redrawn the borders for the peace accords—something Pel’s father was still bitter about. Pel never voiced the thought that if King Forex took better care of his people, maybe they’d want to stay in Tond in greater number, too.